State Supreme Court Justice Joshua Groban sworn in

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown swore in new California Supreme Court Justice Joshua P. Groban in a ceremony on Thursday.

"I don't want this to be known as the Brown Court," said Brown, who has appointed four of the seven justices. He noted differences of opinion among his prior nominees to the current court: Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, Leondra R. Kruger and Goodwin H. Liu.

As Brown's judicial affairs secretary, Groban had a role in picking all three. Brown noted Groban has "interviewed hundreds of would-be judges" and said they have spent many hours talking about legal philosophy.

"Probably next to my wife, I've talked to no person as much as Josh Groban," Brown said.

"I think you've talked to him more," Anne Gust Brown said from the audience. Gust Brown was long rumored to be a dark horse pick for the longest Supreme Court vacancy in state history.

Brown quoted his favorite legal scholar, Grant Gilmore: "In hell there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed."

The quote is meant to warn against the temptation of passing a law for all situations.

In his turn, Groban quoted the Shakespeare line, "First we kill all the lawyers," spoken by Dick the Butcher, one of the villains of Henry VI.

"Though the quote is usually accurately recorded, the context never is," Groban said. "What Shakespeare knew, and what many in this room know, is that the role of lawyers and judges is to provide civility and consistency in a civil society."

-- Malcolm MacLachlan Daily Journal Staff Writer